Alexander III, 336-323 BC, Lifetime Tetradrachm

Alexander III, tetradrachm, AR, lifetime issue under Antipater at Amphipolis, c. 336–323 BC; 16.67 g; 26 mm. Obv: Beardless head of Herakles right, wearing the lion-skin headdress tied at the neck. Rev: Zeus Aëtophoros seated left on a backless throne, right hand extended holding eagle, left resting on scepter; legend AΛEΞANΔPOY. Struck on the Attic standard at Amphipolis under the authority of Antipater during Alexander’s lifetime. Price 83.

Amphipolis functioned as the principal Macedonian mint during Alexander’s reign, and issues produced under his regent Antipater financed garrisons and operations in Greece while the king campaigned in Asia. The Herakles portrait references the Argead dynasty’s claimed descent from the hero, and the Zeus reverse asserted royal legitimacy. Alexander’s Attic-standard tetradrachms became the dominant trade silver of the late 4th century BC, circulating widely across the Mediterranean and Near East.